Lets start with the good news, which many are overlooking.  The Ravens have lost one game despite losing one of the most dynamic defensive players in the NFL earlier in the offseason.  This team could even be undefeated.

So what does all of this mean?  It means that the Ravens are one of the most battle-tested teams in the NFL right now.  They are used to playing in close games and have shown they can win close games, which is an improvement from last year.

But, as many know by now, there is also bad news, very bad news.  The Ravens will be without Ray Lewis and Lardarius Webb for the rest of the season.  Lewis suffered a torn triceps injury and Webb tore his ACL in the first quarter of yesterday’s game.  Not only are Webb and Lewis great players, but they are also great leaders.

Webb is a lesser known player in the NFL.  Many people outside of Baltimore might not know who he is.  But when healthy, Webb is one of the best cornerbacks in the league.  He consistently shut down opposing wide receivers last season and is tied with Eric Weddle for the most interceptions since the 2011 season.

Carry Williams and Jimmy Smith will be the starters for the rest of the season.  Both are capable of taking Webb’s place but neither will play up to the level that Webb is capable of.  The Ravens were already struggling to defend the pass, so the outlook does not look very good.

Jimmy Smith was a first round pick in 2011 and played very well at the end of last season.  But he is still a young player and has not looked the same through the first six games of 2012.  He will be tested this week when he lines up across from Andre Johnson.

Losing Ray Lewis is devastating.  He is the heart and soul of the team and is still playing well in his 17th season.  Losing Lewis means that Dannell Ellerbe and Jameel McClain will be the two starters.  But, if Terrell Suggs returns in the next few weeks, the Ravens could change things around.

For one, Albert McClellan could move to the inside.  McClellan has been a starter at outside linebacker and has played well but has yet to register a sack.  McClellan started one game at middle linebacker last season against the 49ers when Ray Lewis was sidelined with an injury.  McClellan was impressive in that game and recorded four tackles.

The bottom line is that Joe Flacco needs to keep playing at a high level.  He was practically handed the starting job in 2008 when Troy Smith was sick and the rest is history.  If Flacco can keep playing at a high level and carry this team despite all these injuries, the Ravens will hand him something else, a blank check.

No matter what happens for the rest of the season, we are going to learn a lot about the Baltimore Ravens.

At least once or twice a season, I have to sit down and pound out one of these blogs to give everyone a dose of reality as it relates to the Ravens and the NFL campaign.

So…here goes.

I’ll cover a bunch of topics here, so please pay attention.

Let’s start with the obvious.  The Ravens defense isn’t all that good.  Their biggest problem of all?  They don’t really do anything in particular very well.  They can’t stop the run.  They surely can’t defend the short throw over the middle.  And if the other team has two or three different legit wide receiver options, there’s no way they can stop an elite quarterback, mostly because they don’t put any pressure on him.  Most teams with a “sub-par” defense at least have one element they consider “their specialty”.  The Ravens don’t really have anything we’d consider a specialty.

But…and yes, there’s a balance to this, hence the word “But” in there — their offense is virtually the exact opposite of their defense.  The Ravens can run it and throw it.  They can use Ray Rice’s feet or his hands.  They can focus on either Pitta or Dickson.  They can send Torrey Smith long or they can have Boldin run the slant and let Flacco feed him that all-world ball he throws to the sideline.  As bad as Baltimore’s defense is, their offense is probably just as good.

You people wanted offense.  Well, you got it.

You might see a lot more 31-28 games and a lot less of the 17-10′s and 20-14′s.

What will that get them?

Well…so far, it has them at 5-1, which is impressive on its own – except for that 9-6 stinker in KC that they won… a game they likely would have lost a season ago for whatever reason.

And do you know what the Ravens are focused on now, six games into the season?

The same thing they were focused on back on September 10.

The Ravens have one goal in front of them.  They simply want to make the playoffs.

As one long-time staffer said to me today, “You have to look at this like it’s a marathon.  You can’t finish 26 miles until you’ve reached the 5 mile mark, the 10 mile mark, the 15 mile mark, etc.  Eventually, the 26 mile mark comes into view, but not until you’ve completed the first 25 miles.  And that’s the NFL, too.  We need to get to at least 11 wins in our mind.  We have five already.  We have six more to go.  If it takes less than that and we get in, that’s fine.  If we have the best record overall, that’s great.  If we win the division, we’d be thrilled.  But our big thing is to make the playoffs.  After that, we’re 0-0 like everyone else.”

Class dismissed.

(Please see next page for more)

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh announced at his press conference today that both Ray Lewis and Lardarius Webb will be lost for the season due to injuries sustained in Sunday’s 31-29 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

It was apparent on Sunday night that Webb had sustained a torn ACL but news was slower for Lewis, whose career must be deemed in jeopardy after learning via an MRI today that he has a complete tear in his right triceps muscle.

It is the second ACL injury for Webb, who missed the end of the 2009 season with an injury to his other knee.

The Ravens came away with a narrow 31-29 win against Dallas, but the aftermath of Sunday’s game felt much more like a loss as they lost cornerback Lardarius Webb and linebacker Ray Lewis to serious injuries.

Multiple reports are confirming Webb has been lost for the remainder of the season due to an ACL injury while Lewis’ status remains unclear after the linebacker injured his right triceps in the second half against the Cowboys.

Webb left the game in the first quarter after injuring his left knee while defending a pass completed to Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant. After the injury was initially announced as a sprained knee, coach John Harbaugh did not sound optimistic for the star cornerback returning to the field this season.

“Lardarius Webb does not look good right now,” Harbaugh said. “It’s a potential ACL. We’ve got a problem there. We don’t know for sure, but that’s what it looks like right now.”

An MRI confirmed Monday Webb suffered his second ACL injury in three years. The fourth-year cornerback tore the ACL in his right knee in the final month of his rookie season in 2009.

The Ravens sustained a second serious injury in the fourth quarter as Lewis left the field with a right triceps injury. The 37-year-old linebacker could miss the rest of the season depending on the results of an MRI that will determine whether the triceps is torn. A source told WNST.net’s Drew Forrester the recovery time could vary from as little as two weeks to the remainder of the season, depending on the severity of the triceps injury.

“Ray has a triceps [injury], but I don’t think it’s really bad,” said Harbaugh, who later admitted during his post-game press conference that he wasn’t sure how severe the injury was to the inside linebacker. “We’ll have to see on that.”

Fourth-year linebacker Dannell Ellerbe would likely replace Lewis in the starting lineup, but replacing Webb is a more daunting task as many believed the cornerback was having a Pro Bowl season. Second-year defensive back Jimmy Smith would replace Webb in the base defense opposite Cary Williams, but defensive coordinator Dean Pees will likely be forced to turn to special-teams standout Corey Graham to take Webb’s place in the nickel package.

Signed to a six-year, $50 million contract in the offseason, Webb is considered to be excellent against the run and is an effective blitzer from the secondary.

“I’m hurting for that guy right now,” safety Ed Reed said. “I know how hard he works to be out here and what he brings to the game. If we lost him for the year, it’s going to kill us. But, we have to play for him and pick him up because he’s young.”

Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata will undergo an MRI for a sprained MCL, but the knee injury isn’t regarded as serious since the Pro Bowl defensive player returned to action in the second half of Sunday’s game. Cornerback Jimmy Smith (leg) and nose tackle Ma’ake Kemoeatu (knee) also missed time with ailments, but neither injury was regarded as serious after the game.

A silver lining to keep in mind through all the defensive injuries sustained in Sunday’s win is linebacker Terrell Suggs, who is now eligible to return to the practice field after beginning the season the reserve physically unable to perform list while recovering from a partially-torn Achilles tendon sustained in the spring. Suggs has a three-week window to begin practicing before he must be placed on the 53-man roster.

The 10th-year linebacker can be placed on the 53-man roster as early as this week, but many expect the Ravens to wait until after their Week 8 bye to activate Suggs.

BALTIMORE — There was plenty of talk in the locker room about the Ravens being 5-1 after their scary 31-29 win over the Dallas Cowboys that came down to a 51-yard miss from kicker Dan Bailey with two seconds remaining.

They survived and even improved their footing atop the AFC North after losses by the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 6. However, safety Bernard Pollard wasn’t in the mood to sugarcoat a defensive performance that included a franchise-record 227 rushing yards allowed, the second straight week the Baltimore defense had allowed more than 200 yards on the ground.

Dallas scored 29 points, gained 481 yards of offense, and held the ball for over 40 minutes while the Ravens offense received few opportunities in just 49 total plays to the Cowboys’ 79.

“I’m the one who’s going to give it to you straight; we have to get better,” said safety Bernard Pollard, who was quick to point out several mistakes he made during the 31-29 win over the Dallas Cowboys. “Our team is very talented, our defense is very talented, but missed assignments and missed tackles are putting us in the position where it’s a dogfight every game. We’ll draw on that, but we have to get better.”

Even uglier than the stats was the plethora of injuries suffered by Dean Pees’ defense, headlined by a potential ACL injury to the left knee of cornerback Lardarius Webb. The fourth-year defensive back tore the ACL in his right knee in the final month of the 2009 season and has been the Ravens’ top cornerback over the last two seasons. The mood in the locker room suggested a gloomy prognosis for the remainder of Webb’s 2012 season.

Inside linebacker Ray Lewis suffered a triceps injury, which might sideline him for an extended period depending on the results of an MRI Sunday night. The Ravens fear it could be torn, which would keep the defense’s spiritual leader out for multiple weeks.

Cornerback Jimmy Smith (leg), nose tackle Ma’ake Kemoeatu (knee), and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata (sprained MCL) also missed time during Sunday’s win.

Blessed with good fortune from a health standpoint through the first five weeks of the season, the Ravens were viewing this coming week as the potential light at the end of the tunnel for their defensive struggles with linebacker Terrell Suggs eligible to begin playing after being placed on the physically unable to perform list to start the season.

The Ravens somehow survived down the stretch as Graham and second-year defensive back Chykie Brown filled in for Webb and Smith after the reserves received little time in practice at those spots. Both will obviously be asked to do more defensively moving forward, but the reality of a secondary without Webb is one that will surely keep the Baltimore coaching staff awake on Sunday night.

“There’s a lot that goes into this thing, there’s a lot of moving parts,” coach John Harbaugh said. “For our coaches to get the guys coached up on the run, just to get 11 guys on the field is a challenge at times. They were in different personnel groupings and different packages, so our coaches did a great job, and our players did a great job.”

It was difficult to gauge the full effect of Webb’s loss as Dallas — ranked 29th in the league with 67.8 rushing yards per game entering Sunday — relied on the running game to move the ball at will against the Ravens defense for most the afternoon, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. While starting running back DeMarco Murray and backup Felix Jones are household names, even reserve backs Phillip Tanner and Lance Dunbar were able to gain ground against the Ravens’ front seven.

The Ravens entered Week 6 ranked 20th in run defense and had appeared to sure up their ability to stop the run prior to their trip to Kansas City last week before allowing Jamaal Charles to rush for 125 yards in the first half. Now, the defense knows it has a target on its back after failing to slow a rushing attack for the second straight week.

“I don’t like it. I think it’s disgusting,” Ngata said. “We need to fix it right away, because we have a good Houston team that we’re going to play against next week. We’ve just got to find out what we need to do and fix those things. Hopefully, we can get better as the weeks go along.”

The potential losses of Webb and Lewis spell bad news for a defense looking ahead to the return of Suggs to aid a pedestrian pass rush through the first six weeks of the season. And while those defensive losses won’t necessarily doom a team that already enjoys a two-game lead in its division, it will put more pressure on quarterback Joe Flacco and the offense to lead the Ravens to victories.

The Ravens will now rely on Smith to play more extensively in the base defense and ask special-teams standout Corey Graham to play in the nickel package. Webb’s ability to play the run and blitz from the nickel position will also be major blows to the defense.

Lewis would be replaced by reserve Dannell Ellerbe, but the emotional loss of the 37-year-old linebacker being out isn’t one to completely dismiss.

The Ravens will simply say it’s time for the next players in line to emerge in the injured’s place, but every unit has its breaking point. And it’s tough to imagine the Ravens not being dangerously close to that position.

Even if they are 5-1 and sitting pretty in the AFC North.

“It’s difficult, but we can’t allow [injuries] to stop us,” cornerback Cary Williams said. “We have to continue to get better each and every week. We have to step up to the challenge, and we’re going to be challenged. The schedule doesn’t get any easier.”

And the Ravens are fortunate to have given themselves a margin for error.

After every Baltimore Ravens victory, Ryan Chell and I take to the airwaves on “The Nasty Purple Postgame Show” on AM1570 WNST.net to offer “Pats on the Ass” to players who have done something to deserve the honor.

We give pats to two defensive players, two offensive players and one “Wild Card”-either another offensive or defensive player, a Special Teams player or a coach. We offer a “Pat on Both Cheeks” to someone who stands out, our version of a “Player of the Game.” Ryan and I select five different players/coaches each.

Here are our “Pats on the Ass” following the Ravens’ 9-6 win over the Kansas City Chiefs…

Glenn Clark’s Pats…

5. Dennis Pitta

4. Paul Kruger

3. Justin Tucker

2. Cary Williams

1. Ray Rice (Pat on Both Cheeks)